Report finds mobile coupons drive in-store purchases

By Jason Owen

AUSTIN, Texas — RetailMeNot.com, a U.S. digital coupon website, today announced the results of a mobile commerce survey reviewing consumers' current mobile commerce behaviors. The results were presented at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago on June 7.

An overview of the survey revealed that the vast majority of consumers surveyed have moved beyond making simple phone calls and sending text messages via their mobile device to having it become their personal research tool. In fact, almost 8-in-10 respondents reported using their mobile devices to do some sort of research online in the most recent month. More than half of consumers surveyed (54%) used their mobile device while buying something in the month prior to taking the survey in April 2013.

The survey showed deal-seeking behavior has become the norm within the purchase cycle. One-third (33%) of consumers surveyed have conducted searches on a mobile device for coupons online, while over a quarter (26%) bought something in a physical store using a coupon found on a mobile device. Of those consumers who made purchases in-store using a digital coupon, 90% had done so in the last month.

Furthermore, relevant offers seemed to further incentivize consumers to buy. More than half of respondents (51%) indicated that they are more likely to enter a store and buy something if they receive a coupon on their mobile device while near that store. If the consumer received a coupon on their mobile device while already inside the store, more than 6-in-10 consumers (63%) indicated that they would be more likely to buy something.

"There's no doubt that today's consumers are more empowered than ever by smartphone technology, and retailers can recognize and enable those behaviors or lose business to competitors who understand the power of mobile marketing," said John Faith, SVP external affairs for RetailMeNot.

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